


Action speaks louder than words, but communication is key

by Anonymous



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-17
Updated: 2016-06-17
Packaged: 2018-07-15 14:52:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7226923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He could only apologize when he pulled her onto the fire, terrified of being alone and scared something would come bursting out of the shadows. It took a long time before he could say anything but ”Sorry, I miss you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Action speaks louder than words, but communication is key

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rawr948](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rawr948/gifts).



“Use your words,” she said, littering his face with kisses and reducing him to a giggling mess “I know you have them!”  
He’d shake his head, screaming with laughter as she tickled him. “Actions speak louder than words,” Grandma would put him down then, patting his head and booping him on the nose before resuming her work.  
“But sometimes communication is key!” 

He’d roll his eyes, scampering off to a new adventure. Sometimes it’d be inside, making up creative ways to steal candy from the jar on the shelf without getting caught, other times he’d run outside, rushing to pick up a pumpkin before anything monstrous could eat him. The tinkerbulls would swarm around him, lovingly rubbing their heads against him as he flailed.

Through all of Jake’s memories with his grandma, he could only remember speaking to her a handful of times.  
They’d been close, sure, but he’d always had quite some difficulty untangling the words in his head. They would come out as a jumbled mess, incomprehensible and wrought with self-hatred. He’d get angry, tiny frame shaking with rage too big for such a small body. Sometimes he’d cry, sometimes he’d scream, other times he’d just keep trying. Grandma would hug him either way, rubbing circles into his hair and whispering soothing words.

He could only apologize when he pulled her onto the fire, terrified of being alone and scared something would come bursting out of the shadows. It took a long time before he could say anything but ”Sorry, I miss you.”

Dirk never had anyone to care for him. He grew up alone, having to fill the silence with his own words. It was lonely and isolating, and when he ran out of things to say he’d hum to himself over the whirring of machines.  
He once lost his voice and couldn’t stop crying for three days, when it finally came back. It was desperate and nothing he wanted anyone to know, but he needed company and this was all he had. When he grew old enough to build a robot he programmed one that could talk to him. It’d talk about the weather, a news article it’d stumbled upon, how nice music could sound and sometimes, when he told it he was feeling down, it’d sing his favourite tunes.  
He mourned it when it died, silence settling over him once again.

Jake stumbled over him by accident, so desperate for human contact he’d clicked the tiny green circle and started writing. He introduced himself, hoping beyond hope he would answer, tell him to fuck off, anything.  
Dirk answered. 

They talked over endless nights, sometimes calling just to make sure the other was still alive. Jake would hum, making gestures to get his point across. Dirk would talk, ask him questions, listen.  
After a while, Dirk taught himself sign language. Jake had never smiled brighter.

It was good, at first. They met on a planet made of poison and hugged, Dirk burying his face in Jake’s hair. Jake just cried, fingers grabbing at Dirk’s shirt until his knuckles were white.  
They grew steady, settling into the void of their session. None of them could imagine anything else, until it came to the point where the scales tipped.

Jake would isolate himself more and more and Dirk would reach out constantly, unwilling to loose the tiny bit of humanity he’d managed to mark as his. They’d tip-toe around it when they met up, busying themselves with raids and quests and parties.  
It didn’t work.

High off sugar and regret he stared at Dirk with wide eyes, smiling as he proposed to him. Roxy and Jane hovered behind him, smiles equally bright. Dirk flipped, crushing the glass bottle he’d poured his emotions into and telling Jake to go fuck himself. ”You hurt me, you could have said something, who the fuck do you think you are?”  
He was met with drunken promises of ”Babies!! So many children Dirk!! We can name them after each other and-” Before Dirk left.  
Jake’s ranting never skipped a beat.  
Jake wanted to apologize, head banging and eyes blurry as he typed up apology after apology before deleting them all. Dirk was so close, but he couldn’t talk to him and he wasn’t sure if Dirk could even stand the sight of him enough for him to sign a messy ”Sorry I’m an ass, I love you.”  
He was still debating if he should at least try when the moon blew up.

Being a God didn’t feel much different, and it certainly didn’t make it any easier to apologize. Seeing Dirk on the lilypad, standing right in front of him with his arm behind his head was terrifying to say the least.  
He kept apologizing, brushing Jake’s apologies to the side and shaking his head.  
”You always take the blame, it’s not your fault.” They agreed to disagree and Jake pulled Dirk into a hug, letting the familiar scent of oil, metal and seasalt wash over him.  
”I missed you.” He should say. He didn’t.  
”I love you.” He said instead.

Moving in was as natural as breathing. It wasn’t a conscious choice, but when Jake progressively moved all of his belongings to Dirk’s house and never, not even once slept in his own bed they both agreed that making it official was overdue.  
Dirk was nervous anyway, stuttering as he choked out the question over breakfast. Jake chuckled, nodding his head before planting a sleepy kiss on his lips.

Dave dropped in with Karkat a few times, and on New Years Eve they all gathered to watch the fireworks. As the colours bloomed in the sky and Dirk’s shades were tipped up on his head, hand resting in Jake’s like they were a singular being, Jake couldn’t help but smile. He nodded at Rose and Kanaya, who’d been so gracious as to help him pick a ring.

”Dirk Strider,” orange eyes met his. ”Will you marry me?” The shock on his face was echoed by a collective gasp.  
Before he knew it, Jake was lying on the ground, glasses askew and being bombarded by kisses and excited ”Yes!! Yes!! Yes!! Yes!!I”  
He laughed, feeling like an excited puppy as he bumped teeth with his husband.


End file.
